The Church of England will examine the use of gender-neutral terms while referring to God in prayers, while the centuries-old institution said, on Wednesday, it had no plans to do away with contemporary services.
The concept shows people are becoming aware regarding how pronoun usage can be offensive or upsetting to those who do not identify with the gender they were given at birth.
A spokesperson of the Church said, “Christians have recognized since ancient times that God is neither male nor female.”
He said, “Yet the variety of ways of addressing and describing God found in scripture has not always been reflected in our worship.”
He also said that there were “absolutely no plans to abolish or substantially revise” permitted services and that no changes could be permitted without “extensive legislation”.
The comments came after a dialogue in the General Synod, the Church’s governing body, wherein a priest asked about including more comprehensive language in authorized worship and asked suggestions for more options for those who desire to speak to God in a “non-gendered way”.
There was a growing interest to find out a new language since the inception of its forms of service in present-day language more than 20 years ago, the spokesperson said.
The church was “exploring the use of gendered language in relation to God for several years”, said Bishop Michael Ipgrave, vice chairman of the Church’s liturgical commission.
The discussion is the latest effort by the Church, centered in one of the world’s oldest Christian institutions, to cope with the changing notions of gender and sexuality in recent decades.
Last month, the Church put forth proposals rejecting same-sex marriages in its churches, but allowed the priest to bless the couple in church. They also gave an apology to the LGBTQ+ people for the discrimination and hostility they were subjected to.
The spokesperson said, the Church’s Faith and Order Commission, a body advising on theology, and the liturgical commission will together work on questions regarding gender terms.
